1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to neck exercising devices and, more particularly, to neck exercising devices having a stand-up frame with a plurality of weighted objects suitable for exercising the human neck while standing in an upright position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art is noticeably lacking in devices useful in specifically exercising the human neck.
One of the known devices utilized in the prior art for exercising the human neck, involves the use of a series of straps of cloth material which is sewn or otherwise secured together to form a hat-like pocket for cradling the head of the person whose neck is to be exercised. Portions of the straps are arranged to depend from the hat portion of this prior art device so as to extend substantially below the neck and shoulders of the person performing the neck exercise routine but not, typically, below the waist of such user, the ends of such straps terminating in loops for anchoring suitable weighted objects thereto.
Use of this prior art neck exercising device is accomplished by placing the hat portion over the head of the person whose neck is to be exercised, affixing one or more weighted objects to the looped portions of the depending straps and thereafterwards moving the neck up and down and side to side. With the weighted objects providing a constant pull or "force" which is transmitted to the user's neck via the depending straps and the hat structure formed by the sewn straps, the neck is exercised along with the muscles of the human body which are associated with the movement of the human neck.
Another means utilized in the prior art involved no device, but simply the use of the hands of the person. By placing the palm of the hand against the head and pushing and resisting the neck movements, the neck was exercised along with the muscles associated therewith.
A yet still further prior art neck exercising method involved the use of the head and neck muscles to lift a portion of the weight of the human body up from the floor or a wall. This is accomplished by placing the neck in intimate abuttment with the floor or a vertical wall and allowing the body to be moved by forcing the neck muscles to "lift" a portion of the body away from and towards the wall or floor in a back and forth fashion. Of course, such a neck exercising routine or regime did not involve the use of a device.
All of the prior art methods discussed above, which are the only ones known to the applicant herein, are deficient in a number of aspects. First, with respect to the hat and weighted objects apparatus, the user cannot comfortably stand up and exercise his neck because the weighted objects contact his body which is in some cases intolerable and in other cases, simply a nuisance and a source of irritation. To eliminate this body contact with the weighted objected, the user had to sit down and position his neck forward of his body and above the opening between his legs, and the weighted objects dangling from the hat/strap combination were targeted for positioning between the spread-apart legs.
Second, with respect to the manual methods of exercising the neck, there is no provision for consistently and uniformly repeating the same degree of resistance or force as applied to the neck and its muscles. Additionally, the degree of movement of the neck and its muscles are severely restricted and fail to provide the necessary and desired freedom of motion necessary to fully exercise the neck and its associated muscles.
For these important and significant reasons, and others as hereinafterwards further discussed and enumerated, the present neck exercising device was created.